Cups of Tea
by deathly fan
Summary: Ron Weasley has always known that in times of sorrow, tea is always the cure.
1. Miscarriages

Disclaimer: I own Nothing

A/N: This story is based upon the scene where Ron suggests that he make tea and says that that's what his mum always does. Hopefully it will be a few chapters long starting with Ron and Hermione trying to conceive and then following Rose in a few moments through her life.

The wooden clock on the way read four thirty and the glittering moon through the window told Hermione that this was not the right time of day for her to be sitting in her kitchen crying. The house that she and Ron had bought three years ago was a nice cottage size with four bedrooms, an office, a spacious backyard, a quaint kitchen, and a welcoming family room. The two of them had been saving up for the house since the moment they became engaged. It was their dream home and they had spent the longest time decorating the house so that it gave the off the cozy, warm feeling that they were looking for. The house smelled of fall and the fresh cookies that had been baked with Teddy and Vicka earlier that day, pictures of the Granger- Weasley family lined the walls of the hallway, and throughout the house could be seen a mesh of wayward books, a forgotten broomstick, broken quills, chess pieces, lost earrings, and hastily removed ties- it was Ron and Hermione through and through. Yet to Hermione this house felt so empty, it was void of the one thing that she had been trying to fill it with and her body had for the third time told her no. So there she sat, silently crying over the fact that she had everything except the one thing that she truly wanted.

-"Hermione, are you down there?" A sleepy eyed Ron in a white t-shirt and plaid pajama pants came trudging down the stairs.

She looked up at him revealing red ringed eyes and quivering lips that she had attempted to hide behind a thick book that she was reading on muggle animal protection rights and couldn't find the strength to reply.

-"I'll make some tea," Hermione let a small smile quickly grace her lips as she watched Ron prod his wand preparing tea. She could always count on Ron to make tea whenever someone showed sign of distress. This habit that he acquired from his mother had made her laugh in her teenage years. When they had first started dating it annoyed her that he thought that anything could be cured with a cup of tea, but now it was a comfort and lately it seemed that they had been drinking a lot of tea. Ten minutes later, Ron sat two chipped tea cups and saucers at the table. He reached over, swept away her overgrown fringe and kissed her gently on the forehead. He then sat down across from her and took a sip of his own tea before letting out a sad sigh.

-"This is about the baby. Hermione I'm telling you things have to success eventually and… well if we don't we can always adopt,"

Hermione let her own sad sigh out and a tear rolled down one cheek. She attempted to bring the tea cup to her lips but found that her lips quivered too much to wrap around the edge of the cup and her hands shook too much to even bring the cup to her lips. She put the cup back down onto the saucer and began staring into the tea- too afraid to meet Ron's eyes bearing down on her. Hermione stared into the tea picking out the different colors in the raspberry tea. Raspberry- she used to hate raspberry but Ron got her addicted to it, and now people laugh when if they're asked what flavor of tea they like, the two of the simultaneously respond, "Raspberry," Ron has given her the time she needs by not saying anything, but by now fifteen minutes have passed and he cannot bear to be quiet any longer.

-"Drink, Hermione," She tries but she still can't. Can't he understand that they're baby hadn't even made it to the stage in development where he or she could be called a baby yet. This morning, she was thirteen weeks pregnant and thrilled; this was the farthest they had ever made it. Baby Anthony had only made it to seven weeks and baby Claire had lasted even shorter- only five weeks. This time she was so sure, Hermione just knew that at Sunday dinner at Arthur and Molly's she would be the one to announce that she was pregnant. However, she woke up a five thirty the previous morning to find baby Justin a sticky, wet, horrifying spill of blood across the bed sheets. She woke Ron and they stripped the sheets to be washed and barely spoke the rest of the morning. The rest of the day was a haze of work and now she found herself sitting in front of rapidly cooling tea. Didn't Ron understand that all she wanted was for her body to be rounded and glow and because of pregnancy just like Fleur and now Audrey? This was her third miscarriage in the two years that she and Ron had been trying for children. She was twenty-five years old; her body was in its prime shape, so she simply couldn't figure out why it had chosen to reject a third baby. Padma, her gynecologist had told her that miscarriages wear on the body and that she and Ron should seriously consider if they want to keep trying for a baby.

"Drink Hermione," When she finally brings herself to begin sipping the tea he continues.

"Hermione, we can try one more time if you like, but after that I can't do this anymore. I can't bear to see you in such a state anymore and I know it's getting to me too because Hartwell asked me if my dog died in the lift today. We can always adopt you know, there're plenty of children who would love to have a mother read to them every night, a father as brilliant as me, and more cousins than he knows what to do with,"

Hermione could see from the crinkles forming and the heavy bags under his eyes that he hadn't been lying; the miscarriages were taking a toll on him too. The eager auror-in-training, Nicholas Hartwell had even asked if their dog had died- they didn't have a dog, they had Crookshanks but it was the sentiment that mattered.

-"Adoption, yes Ron you're right, we can always adopt a child from the orphanage," Her voice was soft and robotic. _But I don't what to adopt! I want frizzy red haired babies with brown eyes and freckles who support the Chudley Cannons and read Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" before they go to bed. _She wanted so desperately to scream this in his face, but she didn't because Ron was being patient and telling him that he understood that losing the babies was emotionally and mentally bad for them, and that maybe they should give up hope. He was being everything that it had taken him eighteen years to become.

Ron then stood up and gathered her in his arms, with a flick of his wand he refilled their tea cups, and then levitated the cups in front of them as they made their way outside. They settled into a porch swing and Ron wrapped a quilt around them. A quick look at her out of the corner of his eye had Hermione sipping her tea. She knows that routine now, 'drink' he will say if she doesn't. They sit slowly swinging and watching the sun come up. Hermione then tucks her legs beneath her and lays her head against Ron's shoulder and tells him all that she feels as they sip their tea.

-"I want a child that is ours, that is half of you and half of me. Is that so selfish of me?"

-"No, no Hermione it isn't. We all have wants and desires. Just promise me Hermione, that we can try one more time and if it miscarries we'll adopt,"

-"Okay," Hermione is surprised to feel that no tears fall as she makes a promise to Ron that she doesn't want to stick to.

-"Thank you, Hermione,"

-"Ron,"

-"Yes,"

-"Raspberry tea always makes things okay,"


	2. The Naming of a Rose

Disclaimer: I own nothing. A/N: I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy with schoolwork, SATs, and rowing 6 days a week. I hope to make the next one sooner.

_**The Naming of a Rose**_

**-"Hermione we should pick out a name for her, you know,"**

**-"I know Ron, I just-," Hermione sighed and stroked her swollen belly. She was thirty- eight weeks pregnant and in two weeks it would be February 14****th****, the day that Baby Girl Weasley was due to be born. She couldn't wait for the baby to be born. Her ankles were swollen, her back ached, she could never find a comfortable sleeping position, she had to pee every ten minutes, and her internal body temperature was off causing her to put a cooling charm on the house when it was fifteen degrees outside.**

**Hermione sank further into further into her warm bubble bath where her belly, her toes, and her swollen breast bobbed to the top. Her hair recently cut to her shoulders to make for easy maintenance when the baby was born billowed around her head like a fan. Ron sat on the floor dressed in pajamas, right hand stroking her belly, his vibrant red hair in disarray, and face stubbly and unshaven.**

**-"It won't be like the others Hermione. We've had thirty- eight weeks of good luck where both of us have been on edge just hanging on day by day no knowing what would happen the next day. Whatever higher power there is, I don't think he… or she would suddenly let this baby become another Henry or Tallulah or… or Balthazar. Hermione, I just don't think that that will happen. Besides it could be fun, going through baby books trying to decide what to name her,"**

**-"I, yes, okay Ron let's decide what to name her. We'll have to go to Diagon Alley to buy a book of baby names later on today,"**

**-"No worries, Hermy, I bought a book ages ago- been keeping shrunken inside some old socks. I'll just nip up stairs and get them and make some tea. You stay right here and enjoy your bath,"**

**-"Wait, y- you already bought a book," Hermione said weakly. She couldn't believe that Ron had been able to hide something from her- he'd never been able to do that before they'd started trying to get pregnant. When had their life become a life of secrets and tiptoeing around each other all in the pursuit of their shared dream to have a baby? Even now has her due date approached both of them were on edge. Every time they went to a healer appointment with Padma they held their breath. They both thought that something would go wrong; that they wouldn't make it as far into the pregnancy as they did. **

**A few minutes later, Ron arrived with the baby book in his left hand and his wand in his right levitating two tea cups. He sat down the book and one cup and passed the other to Hermione. She took the cup inhaling the scent of the ginger tea. **

**-"Ron, you know I can't be angry at you when you bring me tea?"**

**-"I know, darling, that's why I brought it. We were almost out though, I thought I might have to nip over to Harry and Ginny's for some more but I managed to get by," Ron said with a mischievous grin. After years of knowing Hermione, he knew exactly what he could get away with and how to do it.**

**-Okay, Ron let's get to this naming game. We need to have choices so that we'll be prepared when our brood starts to outnumber Harry and Ginny's or even your parents," Hermione smiled.**

**Ron smiled when he saw Hermione smile. The possibility of them having a second child would probably be impossible; the fact that Hermione had made it this far into the pregnancy after three miscarriages was a miracle in itself. Anyway, it see Hermione joke lightly of a situation that had been so difficult for the both of them. Harry and Ginny had had James just hours after his and Hermione's second miscarriage. The both of them were experiencing bittersweet happiness, but nevertheless were excited to become godparents to the new baby. Now just four months after Hermione was due Harry and Ginny would be having their second child. Shortly after they got engaged, Ron and Hermione had decided that they wanted a family, but not one nearly has big as his; that maybe two or three children would be just the right fit for the two of them and the life they wanted to live.**

**The two of them sat in a peaceful silence sipping their tea and lost in their own thoughts for a few moments before beginning to play the name game.**

**-"You first Hermione, I want to see what name my bookish lady can come up with,"**

**-"Your bookish lady, really Ron! How about Imogen- she's a character in Shakespeare's play "Cymbeline"**

**-"According to the book, Imogen means innocent, girl. I think I like it- she'll be my little girl forever with a name like that," Ron said with a broad grin.**

**-"Okay, never mind, how about Malodora?"**

**-"Malodora!, she was a hag who was the real version of that Snow Yellow character you always tell me about, poison apple and all,"**

**-"Fine, Ron you give it a shot," Hermione said exasperatedly. The two resumed drinking tea for many moments both contemplating exactly what they would name their little girl.**

**-"I got it!" Hermione sputtered tea out of her mouth choking slightly because Ron had startled her so much with his exclamation.**

**-Hermione! Are you okay, can you breathe; I didn't mean to startle you? Are you sure you're okay," Ron began hastily patting Hermione on the back, felt her forehead with the back of his hand and then pressed the other against her belly. He only relaxed when he felt the hard press of the baby's foot against his hand.**

**-"Ron, I'm fine. I'm not going to have a miscarriage just because I choked on some tea. What was the name you came up with anyway?"**

**-"Oh, oh, yeah. How about Rose. It'll be like that Shakespeare character, Rosaline from Jomiet and Rumeo. Well, it will be a constant reminder to her that everything we do in our lives has consequences even if they're indirect. That can't be a bad lesson for a kid to learn right. Or it'll be like that lady who you were telling me about a few years ago, Rosalind Franklin, a muggle scientist that had something to do with genes but never got recognized until recently. A name that encourages hard work and perseverance is always good isn't it? So what do you think?"**

**Hermione's mouth gaped open. She couldn't believe what he had just said. She never thought that Ron actually listened to so much of what she actually said.**

**-"Ron its perfect, it's beautiful. Rose is so simple, but it has so much beauty and meaning. So now that that's settled, how about the middle name,"**

**-"Well, Hermione I suppose there's always the name Muriel. She is getting close to dying you know; mum thinks she only has a few months at the most,"**

**-"Rose Muriel Weasley. She'll hate us for it, but I like it,"**

**-"Great, now lets get you out of that bath tub you look like you have more wrinkles than Kreacher," Ron stood up and reached his arms out to help his wife out of the tub.**

**-"Wait Ron, get the tea first so it doesn't spill,"**


End file.
